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Paella Plays at Downtown WPB’s Top of the Point

When the team at The Breakers’ Top of the Point restaurant in downtown West Palm Beach conceived of a special summer prix-fixe menu, Chef Alejandro Rubio suggested paella.

Rubio hails from Puerto Rico, where rice dishes are prevalent, including paella and its prized “pegao,” a colloquialism for “pegado,” which essentially means to stick to the bottom of the pan (the rice that becomes crispy/chewy).

For Rubio, paella, a dish native to Spain’s Valencia region, brings back fond memories of his homeland, where it was probably introduced sometime during the latter part of Spain’s multi-century colonization there.

Paella is now one of the most popular dinner dishes at Top of the Point, which, perched in its burnished-wood glory on the penthouse floor of Phillips Point, yields sweeping views of downtown West Palm Beach, the Intracoastal and Palm Beach.

A main-course selection on the $35 three-course prix-fixe menu, Top of the Point’s paella features Valencia rice cooked in lobster stock, saffron and olive oil. The rice is paired with shrimp, chicken and chorizo.

Obviously, this paella isn’t prepared in Spain’s most traditional way—outdoors over a fragrant fire built from orange and pine wood.

Rubio and the Top of the Point kitchen team, overseen by The Breakers’ Executive Chef of Restaurants Anthony Sicignano, do prepare the rice in a shallow paella pan, or paellera, but the shrimp, chicken and chorizo are cooked separately.

“Cooking paella in traditional ways is all well and good, but the seafood often gets overcooked so we do it separately,” says Rubio. “Really, the secret to great paella is to put as much love into it as you can.”

Top of the Point is among a short list of restaurants in the area that serve paella as a regular menu item. The Columbia, Florida’s oldest family-owned chain restaurant that’s renowned for its paella, closed its CityPlace location a couple of years ago.

In addition to paella, other main-course choices on Top of The Point’s summer prix-fixe menu (available through Oct. 31) include grilled swordfish with a caper beurre-blanc sauce and fingerling potatoes, and marinated skirt steak with roasted sweet-potato hash and cilantro-lime vinaigrette.

Appetizers include zucchini chips with basil aioli and pomodoro sauce, and mushroom and arugula salad with goat cheese, crostini and lemon-thyme vinaigrette. Among the dessert selections: assorted berries with champagne sabayon and warm chocolate chip cookies served with an ice-cold milk shot.

To make reservations or for more information, call 832-2424 or visit thebreakers.com.